How Avo Photonics uses ADAudit Plus to implement powerful alerting and security capabilities

Business challenges

• Limited IT visibility: Before implementing ADAudit Plus, Avo Photonics faced challenges in tracking activities across its large network of computers. The IT team lacked an effective alert system to proactively identify potential issues or anomalies.

The Problem

According to system administrator William R. Cunningham, Avo Photonics' IT team struggled to gain comprehensive visibility into Active Directory activities and hundreds of computers within its IT ecosystem, . The absence of a robust monitoring tool meant relying on reactive measures instead of proactively addressing unauthorized access attempts or anomalous behavior. Without a solution in place, tracking critical events—like user account lockouts and failed login attempts—was a manual and resource-draining process.

The Solution

ADAudit Plus significantly enhanced how Avo Photonics monitored and managed its Active Directory environment. With its real-time alerting system, the IT team could proactively respond to security threats, as Cunningham mentioned "ADAudit Plus made it possible for us to create a honeypot and to determine failed access attempts on critical shared resources. ADAudit plus made it easy for us to be proactive about responding to unauthorized access and other threats to the network. We were able to setup alerts when certain suspicious activities occurred on the domain, e.g., when a specified account password or role changes, logon failures, and more."

The robust reporting capabilities allowed the team to generate detailed insights into Active Directory activities, saving time and providing clarity in identifying anomalies and trends. ADAudit Plus' library of reports like "frequently locked-out users", empowered the IT team to resolve recurring issues efficiently, bolstering both productivity and security. Cunningham noted "ADAudit Plus reports are extremely effective in helping us stay aware of what is happening in AD. The reports help us to spot anomalies and trends that enable us to make more informed decisions regarding our IT security and system management. I honestly don't know how we would have such ease in information gathering without ADAudit Plus."

The user monitoring features of ADAudit Plus eliminated the need for cumbersome manual log analysis, offering a comprehensive view of user activities, including logins and account lockouts. This streamlined process improved system management and reduced downtime, especially in production environments. In addition, the exceptional support from the ADAudit Plus team ensured a seamless experience for Avo Photonics. From resolving technical challenges to providing detailed documentation, the support team consistently exceeded expectations. Cunningham praised ADAudit Plus for being a powerful, user-friendly, and indispensable solution, transforming how the organization secures and manages its IT infrastructure.

As an icing on top, ADAudit Plus' support team received plaudits from Cunningham, noting that ManageEngine's support team has been the best he has encountered in his 35-year experience as an IT professional. He recounted an incident where ADAudit Plus' support team helped his team: "I needed to move ADAudit Plus to a different server. They provided the instructions to accomplish that. They followed up with me and got on a remote session with me to resolve migration issues I couldn't figure out. I was very pleased with that."

Cunningham summarized his experience using ADAudit Plus by saying "I think ADAudit Plus is a powerful, effective, and easy to use AD auditing solution," adding that "I can say with certainty that it is already a very valuable tool in monitoring and managing AD."

About ADAudit Plus

ADAudit Plus is a real-time Active Directory change auditing solution that features file and folder monitoring, plus access and permission change capabilities. With more than 200 event-specific reports and real-time email alerts, it provides in-depth knowledge about changes made to both the content and configurations of Active Directory, Azure AD, and Windows servers. Additionally, ADAudit Plus provides thorough insights on workstation and file server access (including NetApp and EMC). For more information about ADAudit Plus, visit https://www.manageengine.com/products/active-directory-audit/.